Another side of the story

In the April 23 paper, Vicki Allen wrote an “Other side of the story” on the great success of the livestock industry.

But there is also another side of the story. According to Food and Water Watch:

1) The nearly 733,000 hogs on factory farms in Plymouth County Iowa produce twice as much untreated manure as the sewage from the Dallas-Forth Worth area.

2) The more than 857,000 hogs on factory farms in Hardin County Iowa produce three times as much untreated manure as the sewage from the greater Atlanta metro area.

3) The more than one million hogs on factory farms in Sioux County Iowa produce as much untreated manure as the sewage from the Los Angeles and Atlanta metro area combined.

It’s not the hogs that are crammed into the states’ factory farms. According to Food and Water Watch, Iowa’s vast confinement facilities also house 1.2 million beef cattle, 52.4 million egg-laying hens, one million broiler chickens and 64,500 dairy cows. Altogether, these animals and chickens produce “as much untreated manure as the sewage from 471 million people – more than the entire U.S. population.”

Imagine trying to keep these huge amounts of manure out of the water. Maybe this side of the story merits being told, too! Maybe, just maybe, the confinement system isn’t such a success after all for Iowa residents?